Welcome to the Duer Group

The central focus of our work is understanding how the molecular structure of the extracellular matrix of structural tissues like bone, skin tendon and vascular tissue changes in diseases like cancer and in ageing.

The extracellular matrix is the primary material conferring the mechanical properties of the tissue, and plays a leading role in cell signaling through its binding to cells.

The extracellular matrix is largely formed through self-assembly of proteins and other molecules into fibrils, networks and other structures, which give mechanical strength to the tissue while also providing highly specific protein binding sites for cell signalling. We are investigating how this happens.

Explore our research

You can find out more about the different aspects of our research by clicking on the research tab.